This content was published on 04 March 2024 – 05:01
By Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Bassam Massoud, and Jeff Mason
Cairo/Rafah (Gaza Strip) (Reuters) – US Vice President Kamla Harris on Sunday called on the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to agree to an immediate six-week ceasefire, while at the same time strongly urging Israel to do more to increase humanitarian access to… Gaza, where he said innocent people were facing a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
In some of the sharpest comments yet from senior US government leaders who have called on Israel to ease conditions in Gaza, Harris put pressure on the Israeli government, citing specific ways in which more aid could be brought into the densely populated enclave, where hundreds of thousands are facing starvation. , following the Israeli military attack that has been ongoing for five months.
“Given the sheer scale of the suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire,” Harris said while in Selma, Alabama. There is an agreement on the table, and as we say, Hamas must agree to this agreement. Let us reach a ceasefire.”
“People are starving in Gaza,” she added. “The conditions are inhuman, and our common humanity obligates us to act.” “The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid,” she added. no excuses”.
A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday to hold talks that were described as aiming to overcome a possible final obstacle to reaching an agreement to stop fighting for six weeks. But it is not clear whether any progress has been made. The online version of the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israel boycotted the talks after Hamas rejected its request to provide a complete list of the names of the hostages who are still alive.
Washington insists that a ceasefire agreement is imminent, and seeks to implement a truce by the month of Ramadan, a week later. A US official said on Saturday that Israel had agreed to a framework agreement.
A deal would lead to the first long-term truce in the war that broke out five months ago and has only stopped for one week in November. Dozens of hostages held by Hamas will be released in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees.
An informed source said on Saturday that Israel may not send any delegation to Cairo unless Hamas first provides a complete list of the names of the hostages still alive, a demand a Palestinian source said Hamas has so far rejected.
After the arrival of the Hamas delegation, an informed Palestinian official told Reuters that they were not yet close to finalizing the agreement. There was no official comment.
In previous rounds of negotiations, Hamas sought to avoid discussing the safety of individual hostages until the conditions for their release were determined.
In other diplomatic moves, Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, will meet with Harris at the White House on Monday, and will meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Washington on Tuesday, while US envoy Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut on Monday to continue efforts to stop the escalation of the conflict across the Lebanese border. Israeli.
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2024-03-04 03:00:55
